British Poetry, 1660-1914

(Fulfills Sector 1 or Sector 4 of the Core Requirement for the English major)

Forms of Poetry. This is a survey of British poetry of the long-18th century that will introduce you to key poetic forms such as the ode, elegy, sonnet, mock-heroic, and georgic. Each week we will explore a different form through reading a handful of representative poems. Poets will include Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Thomas Gray, Charlotte Smith, Phyllis Wheatley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Wordsworth. Topics to be covered: life in the city of London; idealization of the countryside; the question of travel; perspectives on gender and race.